Acceso usuarios
Annamaria Sapienza
The “f. pl. femminile plurale” association was set up in Naples in 2008. Its principal interest is in training and developing a “theatre pedagogy” using its members’ broad and deep theatre experience. Its various aims include promoting different cultures through the performing arts. In the firm belief that theatrical language can develop expertise, bridge distances, integrate diversity, and improve relationships between individuals and the community, the working group has been running the project called The Scene of Women in the Forcella public-housing district for many years. The workshop-based activities identified areas and situations where we can observe a complex, problematic female universe of extremely rich expressive potential, from young girls and teenagers to women of all ages, interacting dynamically. All projects gave special attention to working on the body, to knowledge of its material essence, with awareness of its physical nature to explore creatively, in order to expand the meanings of interpersonal relationships in an area, in a peculiar place that becomes a theatre set, a deeply intimate confessional space. This essay explores the educational and social work done by “f. pl. femminile plurale” with non-professional actresses, showing what can be done on several creative levels, all focused on how the body becomes an expressive medium through theatre. The study identifies the moments in a theatrical and existential journey (drawing on techniques derived from mime, dance, fiction and the psychomotor field) that leads women to the simple yet sensational discovery of their own body, over and above the aesthetic rules, social roles and skills. This “found” body becomes a means of knowledge, communication and expressive truth, a body that attributes to the magic of the scene the exceptional nature of its revelation.
